Is This The End?
by thesentimentalist
Summary: For marine biologist, Juliet, surviving a zombie apocalypse proves to be a struggle. However, growing up in a small Georgian town with Daryl Dixon did help prepare her for some of the situations that she encounters. When Juliet rejoins Daryl's life after two years, will they be able to rekindle their past relationship or has the world changed too much for love to conquer? Daryl/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Walking Dead. I'm doing this just for fun. The only thing I own are my original characters.  
My cover image came from Google. **

**Author's Notes: So this is the first chapter. I'm not exactly sure how long it is going to be as of right now. I have a lot of possibilities that I'm exploring as far as character development and storyline. While this is a Daryl and original character love story, the first chapter is mainly dedicated to my character so that you readers can get an idea of who she is.**

**Enjoy and please feel free to give critiques! **

My eyes flung open to the sound of nails running down the outside of my tent. It must have been not yet dawn from the appearance of the walkers' shadows. I sat up with a hunting knife in my right hand. Knowing that I had to move quickly, I sprung to my feet and rolled outside of the tent. Within moments, I was standing up and stabbing a walker in its eye socket. While I removed the knife from the soiled hole, I kicked another one in the chest, making it fall to the ground. Luckily, there were only two more biters to put down, which I did hastily in fear that more would appear.

Wiping the sweat from my brow with the back of my left hand, I looked around what was left of my campsite. Sheer dismay raged through me as I realized I was out long enough for those creatures to compromise, if not destroy all the samples I was working on. I knew I was getting close to figuring out the mutation pattern of the species, so this was a major disappointment.

I sighed and with nothing else to do, I cleaned my campsite. Half way through, I heard branches breaking on the ground and the sound of feet shuffling. Before I looked up, I knew it was a herd. I barely had enough time to grab my backpack, leaving the majority of my belongings and hop into my wind blew my hair into a frenzy as I coasted down the open highway. Times like these, it was easy to forget the turmoil the human race was enduring. That is until you come across a graveyard of cars and bodies.

I needed a fresh start somewhere else; maybe somewhere with people. I was apart of a group once, right after the outbreak. Several other biologists and a mixture of other people proved to be a good fit. Until one day we were raided, not by zombies, but by men. My sister and I were taken while the others were killed on the spot. Apparently, word had gotten around who I was and that I was closer to finding a cure than the CDC. I had even visited the CDC headquarters with a group of colleagues after the outbreak to offer assistance. This other group of people had made their own settlement and their leader, a man whose face I will never forget, put me to work doing research and performing experiments. My sister was held hostage so that I would do what he told me.

Months later I'm not closer than finding a cure than I as the first week of outbreaks. But right now, I wasn't going to think of that. I needed supplies and shelter. I found out that these country back roads held the best hope of finding just that. Growing up in a small hick town, I was also most comfortable on those back roads.

I must have driven several hours before I came to a small town. I was able to siphon gas to nearly fill up the jeep's tank. Before I could do much else, another herd started coming my way. With no other choice, I was on the road again. This time, though, I drove slower, hoping to spot a stream of some kind. Just a few miles from the town, I pulled over and began walking through the forest. Another mile in, I spotted a small stream. But that was all I needed. I filled the empty gallon jug that I had been carrying with water.

I turned around when I heard voices and footsteps. Finally, people, I thought as I began walking in that direction. I was relieved, but at the same time I was anxious. I had escaped that settlement and I wasn't sure if they were still looking for me. Before I could give it much of thought, I saw blackness.

...

I woke up on a cot, my hands tied together. My vision was blurry and my head pounded. I was immediately remembering the time that I was abducted and feared that it happening again. The feeling of nausea overtook me and I barely had enough time to roll over on my side before I vomited.

"Let me get you some water." An unfamiliar female voice said from a distance. "Sorry about tying you up, but we don't know you."

I tried to look in the direction the voice was coming from. And then a blonde appeared in front of me and helped me to sit up. "Who are you?"

"I'm Beth," she said as placed a cup of water in my hands.

"Where am I?"

"A prison, technically. But it's sort of a shelter. There are a lot of people here."

"A shelter?" I repeated. "What happened to me?"

"A couple of our people were out checking the perimeter and you were shot."

"Shot?"

"Grazed, really with an arrow. On the side of your head."

That would explain the headache. I reached up, the cup of water still in my head, and felt the small bandage on the right side of my head. "Can you untie me?"

An Asian man walked in with a brunette girl. "You're awake, good," he said to me. "I'm the one who shot you. I'm really sorry. I'm trying out the whole bow and arrow deal."

I looked at him and took a sip of water. "No hard feelings."

Another man joined us. "Hi. I'm Rick."

"Hi, Rick. I'm Juliet."I paused. "Could you untie me? Please?"

He nodded at the Asian and the Asian pulled out a knife to cut the rope off my wrists.

I put my feet on the floor, but didn't attempt to stand as I rubbed my right wrist with my left hand. "This is a shelter?"

"In a way," the brunette said, before adding, "I'm Maggie. And this is Glenn."

"What were you doing out there?" Rick asked.

"Collecting samples. I'm… was a marine biologist. I guess I'm just trying to figure out what all of this is."

"You worked for the CDC?" Glenn asked.

I looked down at the CDC jacket I was wearing. "Not officially. I came in right after the outbreak."

"You look a little young for that," Beth said.

"I was a recent graduate of a master's program when this began. But I did my thesis on plague like parasites that interested the CDC enough."

Rick nodded. "You're welcome to stay here. That is, if you don't have anywhere else to go."

"I don't. Not anymore."

"I'll get our doctor, Hershel, in here to look you over once more," Rick said before walking out. Glenn and Maggie followed him, leaving the room to Beth and myself.

"Marine biologist, huh?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"You were living out there alone?"

"Not at first."

She nodded.

A man wobbled in with a crutch. "Good afternoon," he greeted.

"Hi."

He sat down next to me and turned my head so that he could unbandage my wound. "This isn't bad at all," he said. "You were lucky. I'm going to give you some antibiotics just to make sure it heals properly."

"Thank you."

"So I hear that you're a biologist."

"Yes."

"How close are you to finding a cure?"

I smiled sheepishly, which earned a smile from Hershel in return.

"Don't over strain yourself for the next couple of days and get plenty of fluids." He stood up. "It's good to have you."

"Thank you."

He looked at Beth. "Why don't you get her settled in a cell?"

"Sure, daddy."

I was surprised by this. I didn't know people still had their families in this world. "Your lucky."

"I know." She paused. "We've made a life here, though. So you can do. My sister, Maggie, and Glenn are getting married.

That was almost preposterous to me, but I have to admit that corruption of my own ideals of marriage didn't begin with the apocalypse; I was already jaded on the idea. "Wow," was all I could manage to say out loud.

"These are good people," she was saying as she helped me up. "There were only a few of us until recently. A settlement not too far from here joined ours."

Settlement? What if he was here? "Where?"

"Woodbury."

I stopped dead in my tracks. Beth must have seen the reaction on my face because she stopped as well.

"Juliet?"

"Is there a man who goes by the name of the Governor?"

"What do you know about the Governor?" Rick asked as he approached us.

"Just that he's an evil son of a bitch."

"How well do you know him?"

"Pretty freaking well."

"Beth get the others and bring them to the storage room." Rick led me into the storage room. "We're having a disagreement with the Governor."

"You mean the kind of disagreement when he kills your people? Because that's his style."

Moments later, Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, a woman with dread locks, a tall stocky African American man joined us.

"Juliet, this is Michonne," Rick said and the woman with dreads nodded in my direction. "And that is Tyreese."

"Hello," I greeted.

"What is this you know about the Governor?" Michonne asked.

"About a month after the outbreak, the group that I was apart of had made camp close to Woodbury. We ran into people from the settlement from time to time. We didn't like that they used walkers as a form of entertainment and decided that the Governor couldn't be trusted. So when he asked us to be apart of Woodbury, we declined. Then one day the Governor led several of his people to our camp and killed everyone but my sister and myself. He used my sister's safety as leverage so I would do what he wanted." I paused. "I did some things that I'm not proud of," I said in a low voice as I remembered the times I injected people with the virus to try to modify and predict the patterns the victim underwent. "The Governor is an awful excuse for I man. I found that out later when I discovered my sister in chains in one of his secret rooms."

Maggie looked down and Glenn rubbed her back. "What happened to her?"

"He killed her when I refused to carry on with certain experiments." I paused. "So I took her place in that room. I escaped about a month before Woodbury was abandoned."

"What's goin' on in here?" I heard a familiar male voice say from the doorway.

I slowly turned around and the moment I saw his face, hundreds of memories flooded my mind. "Daryl?"

"Jules," he whispered huskily.

"You two know each other?" Glenn asked.

Ignoring his question, I walked to Daryl and threw my arms around him. Although he hesitated at first, he embraced me as well.

"I'll take that as a yes," Tyreese said.

I stepped back to look at him. It had been over two years since I last saw Daryl Dixon. His eyes were still as blue as ever, but his beard showed signs of grey. I suppose an apocalypse would do that to you. I studied his face for any sign of emotion, but there was none. I couldn't collect any words to say, so we both just stood there looking at each other.

Rick broke the silence by asking Daryl if there were any breeches around the perimeter.

"No," he replied breaking eye contact with me.

"How do you know each other?" Maggie asked.

"We grew up in the same hometown," I choked out still not believing I was standing in front of him.

Glenn let out a small laugh. "Did you babysit her or something, Daryl?"

Daryl looked at Glenn. "Or somethin'." He focused his attention back on Rick. "There is somehin' that you need ta look at though."

"Sure," Rick replied. "Michonne?"

She nodded. The three of them walked out of the room.

I was surprised that Daryl could just walk out like that. That must have been clearly expressed on my face. "You should rest," Hershel said before he too began walking out of the storage room. He turned to ask Maggie to show me to a cell.

I followed Maggie out of the storage room and down the hall. Once back in the commons, we went up the stairs and to an empty cell where my backpack was already on top of a cot. "Everyone here is nice," she was saying though I knew she wanted to ask about Daryl.

I nodded. "Thank you."

"We're sorry again about shooting you."

"No harm done," I told her.

She nodded but still lingered in the doorway. "Dinner is at six. You can meet more of us then." When I didn't reply. "Or I could bring you something if you aren't feeling up to it."

"I'll be fine." I looked around. "I want to help as much as I can with anything. Patrolling, cooking, you name it."

She smiled. "I'll let Rick know, but you should probably take the next two days easy."

"Then I'll help with laundry or cleaning the guns."

"I'll make sure he knows that."

"So Rick is like your leader?"

She nodded. "It's not like we have a chain of command, but Rick is definitely what we would call our leader. Glenn and Daryl are his right hands though."

"Daryl… so he's fitting in?"

"He's the heart of the group."

I was relieved to hear that. Although I knew how stubborn and tough Daryl acted, that's all he really wanted was to be accepted and needed.

"Get some rest," Maggie said before she walked out.

I sat my backpack on the floor before I stretched out on the cot. It was so nice having something under you other than the ground that I fell asleep almost instantly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Walking Dead. I'm doing this just for fun. The only thing I own are my original characters.  
My cover image came from Google.**

**Author's Notes: Amazing show tonight for the season premier of The Walking Dead! Still, with that being said, I am not going to follow the season's storyline. At least not in this chapter or the next two. I'm planning on posting a chapter every Sunday night and hopefully every Wednesday night so keep an eye open for updates. Also, I am going to have flashbacks at either the beginning or end of each chapter to show light on Juliet and Daryl's relationship. **

**I noticed that I had a lot of views, but no reviews. So, like always, reviews are very helpful. **

_When Rich's car came to a halt at a four way stop, I jumped out the passenger side of his red '87 mustang. _

_"Come on," he whined as he leaned over the empty passenger side seat._

_I took a swig out of the whiskey bottle that we had been driving around with. "No, we're done," I said for the tenth time that month, but this time, I meant it._

_"I'll take you home. You're too drunk to go anywhere by yourself."_

_"Not like you could protect me anyway. You can't even stand up to your own mother when she talks shit about me."_

_Rich was now driving slowly beside me as I walked down the dirt road. "She just wanted to know if schizophrenia was hereditary." _

_"Yeah, because she wanted to know if I would get it from my mother." _

_"She was concerned."_

_"Right," I huffed as I took another swallow. "Just fuck off." _

_"You know what? Fine! Be a fucking 're crazy as hell anyway!" He yelled before speeding away._

_I finished off the rest of the bottle by the time I had walked into town. The first building I saw was the Hook-Shot. Being a bar and all, I wasn't even sure if I could get in without my fake ID. I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to walk into the bar no problem. Still I didn't want to try my luck at the high tables or bar area, so I walked into the back where a few people were playing pool. Someone had sat down a glass of beer on a chair next to the pool table that I happily picked up and began sipping on. _

_"Hey there, darlin'," a man said as he approached me. He flashed me a smile as he licked his upper row of blackened teeth. The word "creep" might as well have been tattooed across his forehead. _

_"Hi," I greeted rather coldly._

_"Can I buy you a drink?"_

_"I'm fine. Thanks," I said before I walked off. And by walked, I mean stumbled. And by stumbled I mean fell into someone. _

_"Wow," he said as he grabbed me by my shoulders._

_"Sorry," I said not bothering to look up._

_He let go of my shoulders, causing me to stumble again. "Hey, I got ya'," he whispered as he led me to a table._

_"Sorry," I repeated._

_"You need somethin'?"_

_I shook my head. "Just had a long night."_

_"I ain't one for small talk," he admitted._

_"Neither am I." For the first time, I looked up at him. His crystal clear blue eyes were red, either from too much to drink or some other form of extracurricular activities. I will never forget that grin, crooked but still so hansom, as he stared down at me. "I'm Juliet."_

_"Daryl."_

_"Would you wan to go back to your place, Daryl?"_

_He shrugged. "We could do that."_

_..._

I woke up to a pitch-black cell. Fumbling through my backpack, I reached for my flashlight, only retrieving it by memory. I turned it on so that I was able to safely make my way through the commons and through one of the back doors. I had needed fresh air. Being cooped inside a cell was not my idea of a restful night's sleep. Since the outbreak, I had opted to sleep outside when weather had permitted, except when I was in Woodbury because I was not permitted to do so.

"You shouldn't be out here."

I turned around, my flashlight blinding Daryl's eyes. Almost immediately, I pointed it at our feet. "I'm sorry. I just needed air."

He ignored my remark. "How ya feelin'?"

"Fine," I said.

"I'm in tower 3 tonight. Ya wanna join me? It ain't safe for ya ta be out here alone."

"Um… sure."

I followed Daryl to the tower and he led the way up the stairs. Once we arrived inside, he fiddled with the rifle that was against the wall. "How did ya end up here?" He asked as we sat down.

"Here? As in the prison or here as in Georgia."

He shrugged. "Both."

"I had made it to Atlanta from California before the outbreak had gotten too bad. My sister picked me up from the airport. When we got to our parents' house, we found our mom eating our dad." I had told the story so many times, it wondered if it sounded as emotionless as it felt to me.  
"That was about the time the CDC called so we made our way there. When it was evident that there wasn't going to be a cure anytime soon, a few of the biologist suggested that we try to make a colony elsewhere. We left Atlanta and found some other survivors on the way. They were all killed by the Governor's people though. Hayley and I were the only ones left. But when she died, I left Woodbury. I had only been living on my on own for weeks before I came across your people."

Daryl nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Rick offered me a place to stay. With nearly all my supplies gone, I couldn't turn it down."

"How did you survive?" He asked abruptly. "Out there alone?"

"It was hard. I had taken some self defense classes when I had first moved to California two years ago." I paused. "What about you? How did you end up here?" I didn't want to dwell on the things that I had seen and endured while living alone in the wilderness. And I was very curious how Daryl ended up with a group of people.

"When shit got bad, Merle and I headed out. We sort of fell into this group. It was a lot smaller then. Then Merle ended up at Woodbury. Did you ever see him?"

I shook my head. "The Governor kept me away from the other people. I never met anyone other than a couple of his guards."

"What do you mean that he kept you from other people?"

I looked down at my hands that were folded in my lap. "I was a prisoner there. Both Hayley and I were hidden. I did meet another scientist named Milton though. I doubt the Governor even told him the truth about me and why I was there."

"Why were you there?"

"To destroy the parasitic nature of the disease and to find a way to regenerate the dead cells of the host." When I realized Daryl might not understand exactly what that meant, I added, "To more or less find a way to reverse the effects of the virus."

He shook his head. "Damn girl. You really did move on to bigger and better things."

I shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "I don't know about that. Until I got my Masters, I was working at a dive bar."

That made him smile. "Can take the girl out of the bar but not the bar out of the girl."

"Hey, I didn't spend that much time at the bars back home."

"Ya already forget that's how we met?"

I blushed, remembering how I made a fool out of myself that first night I met Daryl. "I wasn't at my best."

"Seventeen year old girl sneaking into a bar already shit faced? I'd say not, Jules."

"You seemed to like it."

"Well I didn't know you were jailbait then."

"You were still interested in me after you found out," I said with a smile.

He grinned. "I suppose I was." He paused. "Seven years ago."

I thought about the years that had been since then. "Has it already been seven years?"

"Already? Hell, it seems longer than that to me."

I shrugged. "Those first five years went by pretty fast."

He nodded in agreement. "These last two haven't though." He shifted his eyes so that he wasn't looking at me. "You said you got your masters?"

"In marine biology."

"You stuck with that," he said more than asked.

"I did."

"Your folks must have been proud of ya."

"They are… were… It's not like it's much of an achievement now though." Not wanting to ponder on that, I changed the subject. "Speaking of family, where is Merle?"

Daryl's voice went numb. "He didn't make it."

"I'm sorry," I said. Though I meant it, I knew that he was better off without Merle. At least he was if it was the same ole' Merle that Daryl had grown up with.

"I'm sorry about Hayley. I knew you two were close."

I physically flinched. While it hurt so badly to know that she was gone, what fueled my rage the most was knowing how she was killed.

"Was she bit?"

"No. The Governor killed her after he let some of his men rape her." I paused. "I found her chained up in a room. She was dehydrated and bruised everywhere," I said as I remembered the scene. "The Governor found us and demanded that I inject a child with the virus so that I could observe the effects it had on her. When I refused, he pulled out his pistol and shot her. No hesitation and no remorse." I looked at Daryl. "He's an evil man."

Then Daryl said something I wasn't expecting. "The Governor killed Merle too."

I put my hands on top of Daryl's as we sat inches from one another. There were no right words that could be said at that point so we just sat in silence until Daryl stood up.

"I'm suppose ta be on watch."

I nodded. Leave it to Daryl to pull back when things got remotely emotional. It looks like some things never change. But I wasn't buying it. "Do you mind if I stay here?"

"It won't bother me none if ya do."

I knew that was as close to an invitation to stay as I was going to get. Even though I wanted to sit there and make small talk, I had a nagging feeling that we needed to get a few things out of the way.

"Daryl," I began.

"Ya?" He asked as he looked through the windows of the tower.

"I wanted to call when I left Georgia. But I didn't know what to say."

Though his back was to me, I could see the pained expression on Daryl's face through his reflection in the windows. "That was two years ago. Let it go… I did."

I wanted to tell him that I didn't let it go and that I thought about him constantly. Hell, what person doesn't think about their first love from time to time? But I knew that wasn't the right way to go about this. For all I knew, Daryl had moved onto someone else. I had my chance with him and when it came down to it, I chose biology over him. I had lost my right to tell Daryl how I felt about him. So I just nodded. "Okay," I replied.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Walking Dead. I'm doing this just for fun. The only thing I own are my original characters.  
My cover image came from Google.**

About a week had passed since that night Daryl and I had talked in the tower. While neither one of us were really avoiding the other, we were barely in the same room together longer than five minutes. Beth made it her personal mission to get me not only settled into the prison but also accustomed to everyone. Though it was tiring always having a smile on me face, I was grateful to have a roof over my head.

Still, Rick hadn't okayed me to do any real chores. Sure, I helped Beth with laundry and told stories to the children before bedtime, but I wasn't allowed around the weapons or asked to keep watch. Of course I couldn't blame him. But I knew once Rick did trust me, I would prove to be a helpful member of the group. Most of the time, I would study the bodies of the dead in hopes of furthering my research.

I pulled my long hair together and secured it in a bun on top of my head with an elastic band. No one was too happy with my "hobby" as many of them called it, so I was left to my own devices most of the time. Some of the dead had gotten into the gates a few days ago. These were the walkers I was dissecting and studying. Every cut I tore into the undead, I made a note. Unfortunately with most of my supplies gone, I had no means of keeping samples.

I fell back on my butt and rested my arms on my knees as I looked at the walker lying before me. The hot sun made it almost unbearable to study these creatures between their smell and the overwhelming heat.

"Ya done with that one?" Daryl asked as he came up behind me.

"Afraid so."

He leaned down and grabbed each of its hands. "I'll take it to the burn pile."

I stood up and grabbed the walker's feet. "I'll help."

We moved the walker to a small pile of undead south of the main prison. "Learnin' anything new?"

I shook my head. "I don't have much, well any equipment to work with."

He nodded. "I know this is what ya want to do, but ya should be going to those classes."

"How to use a knife classes?" I asked with a grin.

"Ya and Rick has been teachin' some other people about self defense once he found out that Carol was teachin' the kids about knives."

"I'm good," I said, my pride getting in the way. "Beside, I've become pretty skilled with knives."

"We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and you're still as damn stubborn as you were when you were seventeen."

"Looks who talking," I said. "Besides, I can defend myself."

"It wouldn't hurt to refresh yourself on the basics."

"Maybe you should go to one too then."

Daryl chuckled. "Sure thing, kid," he said with his crooked grin.

Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't been with a man since the world went to shit or maybe it was the left over feelings for the man standing before me, but when Daryl looked at me the way he did in that split second after he called me a kid, I would have given anything for him to be mine again.

I let out a deep breath, but smiled remembering that this same feeling is how I use to feel every time Daryl looked at me just a few years before this. It was nice having that back in my life.

I playfully shoved Daryl, and instinctively he grabbed my wrist "Do somethin'," he taunted.

With Daryl's hand still on my wrist, I stood my ground and moved my arm at an angle that he could not accommodate by moving my arm down and touching my elbow into his forearm. With my elbow touching his forearm, he could not hold onto my wrist. I stepped back as Daryl stepped toward me and grabbed me around my waist with my arms pinned to my side. I dropped down, my weight pulling Daryl forward. When he stumbled forward, I pulled my arms free and was able to push him off of me.

"Not bad," he admitted. "But how good are your attacks?"

Now it was my turn to admit something. "Not so great unless I have a weapon."

"Try. You're not going to always have a weapon."

Without hesitation, I lunged forward with my fists balled in attempt to strike him. Daryl caught my fist with ease and pulled me into him in one movement. He turned me around so that my back was against his chest as he grabbed my other wrist. I tried to head-butt him, but he was too fast and moved out of the way. I put my left foot in-between his feet in attempt to trip him. When that didn't work, I reached my hands over my head so that I could grab onto Daryl's neck. He took his hands off me to put his hands over mine. He was able to remove my hands from the chokehold, but I was also able to get away.

Not wanting to give up, I charged him. While he was able to steady me, I was able to make him fall to the ground, me on top of him. Daryl grabbed onto my wrists once again and flung me onto the concrete and pinned me down. I looked up at him, sweat glistening off his brow and neck. Our faces were inches apart as his eyes met mine.

I bit my lower lip, unsure of what was going to happen next. I could feel my chest rising and falling in a heated manner as Daryl lay on top of me. I arched my back, into Daryl, which was more of a reflex than anything else. He noticed and tightened the grip on my wrists. The thin material of my t-shirt and even thinner material of my bra and his plaid shirt were the only things keeping the skin of our chests from touching.

"Daryl," I whimpered underneath him.

I waited for the moment that he lips would crash onto mine, but it didn't happen. He released my wrists and sat up. Instead of getting to his feet, Daryl sat down on the concrete and looked at me as I lifted my self up, resting my weight on my elbows.

"What was that?" He asked.

I couldn't look at him, so instead I looked down at my ripped blue jeans and dirty boots. "I could ask you the same thing."

"'Cuse me?"

"You're the one who pinned me down," I reminded.

"I was tryin' to see what you needed to work on. You're not going to last if you can't defend yourself."

I stood up, refusing to be lectured. "I know when we were together, you took on this protective role over me and I guess it was because of our age difference, but you don't know me anymore. You don't know what I'm capable of."

He dusted himself off as he stood up beside me. "From the looks of it, it ain't much."

This time, I really shoved him, making him stumble backwards. "Fuck you. You don't know what I've endured."

"That's right get mad."

"Shut up!"

"No, Juliet. I ain't. You're a human target. Not just for them walkers, but to other people like the Governor."

"Daryl, seriously. Stop."

"Why? They ain't gonna' stop."

Desperate for him to stop talking, I swung my right fist at him, which he grabbed. So I brought my left fist up and collided it against his chest. "Just don't," I begged.

Daryl put his hand over my left fist that was still against his chest. "You're right. I did feel like I needed to protect you then. Maybe it was because your daddy had his hands full with your momma and you looked like you had been thrown away. I don't know. But what I do know is that you look like you've been thrown away all over again."

"Like I never took care of you," I spat back. "You may be ten years older than me, but you sure as hell came into my bed at night crying more than once. Or have you forgotten that?"

"What's your point?" He demanded.

"I'm not some weak little girl. And when I tell you that you don't know what I'm capable of, you need to believe it." I didn't give Daryl a chance to respond before I stormed off.

...

_I looked at the clock that hung in the small living room of my one bedroom apartment. It was almost one in the morning. I had been in the library studying for finals for over twelve hours by the time I had gotten home. When I transferred from the local community college to the state college an hour away, I had no idea how hard the transition would be. I knew that if I moved there, it would be easier. But I wasn't ready to do that mainly because I knew that Daryl wasn't ready to leave Merle._

_"Daryl," I thought as I looked at my cell phone. I should have called him on the way home, but I knew he would already be in bed. He had to be at the construction site in just four hours. _

_I took the hair clip out of my hair and shook out the waves. I hadn't even made it to the kitchen before I heard keys fumbling and saw my doorknob turning. I stepped in front of the door as Daryl opened it. His eyes were red, and unlike most times when they were that color, it wasn't because of weed but it was because he had been crying. _

_"Jules," he whimpered as he closed the door._

_"Daryl," I called as I took him in my arms._

_He stood there, his arms around my body and cried. "I don't wanna' be like my brother," he said in between sobs._

_"You're not," I promised as I held him tighter._

_"I'm gonna be one day."_

_I took his face in my hands and wiped away a few of his tears with my thumbs. "No, Daryl, you won't. You are the best man I know even though you don't show your true self to hardly anyone, I know who you are. Remember that. Remember that you are a remarkable human being and no one can take that away from you. Not even Merle."_

_He nodded, his tears ceasing to run down his eyes. _

_"Do you want to talk about it?"_

_"No," he answered, his voice deep and husky. Before I could reply, his lips collided against mine and within seconds, our tongues were dancing to the beat of our own tempo. _

_Daryl picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his hips. Without breaking our kiss, we stumbled into my bedroom. He tossed me on the bed and before he climbed on top of me, he took off his blue jeans while I removed my shorts. Daryl leaned over me and pulled off my shirt and even in the dark I knew that he was grinning when he saw that I wasn't wearing a bra. His calloused hands moved over each of my breasts as I ran my hands through his hair. _

_I pushed Daryl on his back and straddled him. I leaned down to unbutton his shirt and pull it open while I kissed his neck. I reached down and pulled his cock out of his boxers. I ran my hand up and down his shaft as I made a trail of kisses down his chest, stopping at his left nipple. I sucked on it and then blew cold air onto it, making Daryl shiver with both chills and desire. "Jules," he moaned._

_I smiled into his skin as I continued to kiss down his stomach and to his pelvic area. I tore off his boxers before I took him in my mouth. I could taste his pre-cum as I moved my mouth up and down his member. I stopped myself because I knew what he really needed; he needed to be inside of me. I crawled up him as I kissed his chest once again and pulled my panties to the side before I lowed myself onto him. His hips bucked up as I felt all of him enter me. _

_Leaning down, I pressed my breast against his bare chest as his ran his hands down my back. I moved slowly and turned to the side so that I could grind my clit against his hipbone. He lifted his head to that he could see my tits bouncing to our rhythm. Daryl moved his hands down my back and to my ass when he held onto. I could feel his nails dig into my ass cheeks. _

_"Daryl," I whispered as I continued to rock back and forth. _

_That night instead of a passion driven fuck, we made love. It was soft and sweet and when he came inside of me, he pressed his forehead against mine and told me that he loved me. _

_"I love you," I said back as I moved his hair out of his face. I lowered myself on top of him as he stroked my hair. _

_That was the last night that he had to come to my place crying because that night I asked him to move in with me. While he still came to me as an emotional wreck, he came to his home that way, our home. _


End file.
